Loose leaf binder



G. G. MEVII LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed May 11, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l vINVENTOR ATTORNEY G. G. MEVII 2,116,078

LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed May 11, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TJIj.E-.

INVENTOR I 7 flhr" MZM - ATTORNEY UNITED, STATES PATENT. OFFICE LOOSELEAF nnvmm George G. Mevi, Mount Kisco. N. Y. Application May 11, fess,Serial No. 20,969 (flaims. (c1. 1149-1) The present invention relates toloose leaf binding devices, and to an assembly comprising such a deviceand the leaves therefor. More particularly, the invention relates tobinders and leaves 5 therefor of such character that, as a unit and inone operation, all or any desired part of the leaf content, or anynumber of sheets'to the capacity of the binder, may be inserted thereinand removed therefrom. r

The invention relates, furthermore, to binders of tube style, having anopen-work face or zone lengthwise thereof, formed by spaced cut-outs,which are demarked by transverse sheet-holding ribs constitutingunitary, non-manlpulable elemerits of the tube; to the elimination ofall rings and other leaf anchors requiring opening and closingmanipulations for reception and removal of leaf content. Heretofore,however, such tube binders have not provided, in any proper sense,

so for bulk placement and removal of leaf content, and so their meritsof simplicity and durability have been largely lost.

An object of the invention is a binder of the unitary and fixed ribtubular class, above men,-

tioned, but which is well and truly adapted for bulk placement andremoval of leaf content, in an operation requiring but a moment, and inwhich the leaves are subjected to no bending,

wear or injury. a

A feature of the invention is the adaptation of such tubular binder foruse with leaves having marginal holding tabs or recesses of thebayonettype, or hook or equivalent shape, such that the registered andcorresponding tabs of accumulated leaves may be passed in bulk or as aunit into their opposed spaces between the ribs, and then be given alongitudinal shift, still as a unit, to interlock the tabs behind theribs; the tube being so cut or shaped as to allow such bulk insert andshift, and being provided with simple means for reliably locking theleaf content against any return, tab releasing, shift or'displacement ofthe leaf content, until desired for removal or addition of leaf content.i 1

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear onreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view of leaves and cover pieces as-. sembled and locked inthe binder.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the hinder, the lock-cap being shown above andseparated from the tubular member thereof.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the. line 3-3 of i 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line l-l of Fig. 2, showing theclearance or gap in the upper end rib for insertionand removal of coversand sheets.

Fig. 5 is a view looking into the lock-cap, and showing a head on partof the periphery thereof for attachment to the end rib of the tube.

Fig. 6 is a cross section through the cap on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 shows the binder, broken away except for the upper end thereof,and with a sheet or cover piece in locked position thereon.

Fig. 7a is a fragmentary view showing the relative positions of binderand sheets, with the binder ribs in registry with the sheet recesses,preliminary to insertion of the sheets into the binder.

Fig. 8 shows an open-work blank of sheet material which may be rolledlaterally to form a tube such as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a view in cross section of a binder tube of another shape;

Referring first to Figs. 2, 3, and 4, there is shown an open endedtube-i0 of circular cross section, which at predetermined areas iitherealong has been cut through to a level indicated at I 2 in Fig. 3,thereby being made to present ribs I3 unitary with the body of the tubeand which bridge the front of the tube from side to side thereof.

What would otherwise have been a rib at. the upper end of the tube, (byvirtue of the uppermost of the cuts Ii), has, however, itself beencentrally cut at I, so as to present two flexible stubs IS, the opposedends it of which are spaced commensurately with the desired maximumcapacity of assembled sheets and covers receivable by the binder. Aswill appear upon reference to Fig. 7, such assembly of sheets and coversis as a unit placeable into and removable from the binder.

In Fig. 7 there is shown a sheet i1, which may be either a book page ora cover piece of metal or other material, or which may be considered asa front view of an assembly of such elements in registration with eachother. Along one edge of sheet IT, at intervals corresponding to thepitch or spacing of the ribs i3 of the binder tube, are recesses it ofbayonet-type formation. The inwardly directed mouths IQ of theserecesses are of width to admit the ribs i3; and the upwardly directedoffsets 20 of the recesses are of width with respect to the thickness ofribs i3, such that the ribs having been passed through the mouths I9 ofthe recesses, may be shifted into the offsets 20 thereof. Such shiftrepresents a slight downward movement, or drop, of the sheets after thetop margin of the sheet, and in alignment with the recess offsets 10, adownwardly directed slot 2i; and in th e bottom margin of the sheet,also in alignment with offsets 20, is an upwardly dirccted slot 2!. SlotII is of length and width to accommodate a lock-cap II, presently to bedescribed; and slot 22 is of length and width to accommodate thelowermost rib II. The three corners "a. llb and lie of the recesses arepreferably rounded as shown in Fig. 7, so that a camming orself-centering of the sheets may take place in the insertion thereof,and so that the sheets may not be caught or injured by the binder ribs.

when the mouths I. of the recesses in the sheets are in registrationwith the ribs- II, as shown in Fig. 7a, for placement of the assemblyinto the binder, the edges of the sheets just below the tabs 24 formedby the slots II at the upper corners of the sheets will register withthe rib s'tubs II at the top of the binder, and therefore except for thespace H between the stubs, the sheet assembLv could not be passed intothe binder. To the width of the space ll, however,

the sheet assembly will pass therethroughas the ribs it pass into themonths ll of the bayonet- ,tm recesses of the sheets. When, in such in-'aerting movement, the sheet assembly is arrested by contact of thebinder ribs with the inner walls of the sheet recesses, the assembly maybe dropped down as a unit, to cause the ribs It to enter therecessonsets 2|.

The tabs 2' at the lower corners of the sheets, formed by the slots 22,will not interfere with passage of the ribs into the bayonet-type slots;because, when the ribs I! register with the open- .w I, the tabs II areabove. and clear of the lowermost rib II. On the subsequent drop of thesheet assembly to engage the ribs in the recess onsets II, the lowermostrib II enters the slots I! in the bottom edges of the sheets, and soholds the sheets against rumpling at their lower extremities.

when the assembly has been given the aforementioned vertical shiftdownward in the binder, it is in home position in the latter, and onlyrequires to be locked against displacement from such home position. 80'to lock the assembly, there is provided the abovementioned lock-cap 13,shown in Figs. 2, 5, 6 and 7. It is preferably ofa diameter snugly toflt over the tube end, so that it may be held frictionaliy in placethereon and such a fit is the more readilyobtained because of theyielding resiliency of'the rib stubs I! over which the cap is passed. Inthe drawings, however, there is shown a positive lock for the cap; andthe lock consists of an inturned bead or crimp 28 on so much of theflange 21 as lies above the level I! (see Fig. 4), of the cut Ii.demarking the edges as of the rib stubs l5. As the cap is slipped ontothe tube, over the stubs II, the latter may yield to the pressure of thehead It thereon; and, as the bead clears the stub edges 28, the stubswill be free to snap up behind the bead and so look the cap in place; orthe spring action may be in the metal of the cap. When the cap isapplied, the sheets are in Fig. 7 position, and sothe flange 21 of thecap enters '2 auam the slots 2| in the upper margins of the sheets; thecap in its home position completing the bridge partially formed by thestubs II, and so serving, like one of the ribs II, to anchor, the sheetsto the binder at the upper edges. The upper corners of the sheets cantherefore no longer be moved in the gap ll between the rib stubs ll, andthe end of the side flange 21 of the cap serves as an abutment toprevent such upward shift of the sheets as would be necessary forclearing the ribs of the recess offsets 20 for removal of the sheets.The flange 21 in anchoring the sheet ends to the tube assures effectiveabutment of cap and sheets.

It is obvious that a spider or other lock device may be substituted forthe cap II: and where, for appearances, or to close the lower end of thetube, a cap at the lower end may be desired, and the same may be set andlooked upon the lowermost rib It. For appearance, the cap 28 is shown asof the same width as the ribs I and hence the rib stubs II are shown inFig. 2 as slightly narrower than the ribs it so as to allow for theadditional cap width of the bead or crimp The binder tube may be of anydesired cross sectional shape, as for instance, the oval cross sectionIla shown in Fig. 9; and it may be of metal, "vinylite, or of any of agreat variety of substances. It may be rolled, cast, or tooled out,

and the cuts or apertures H may be made therein after formation of thetube, or at any earlier stage. as expediency may dictate. If the tube bemade of vinyiite" or other sheet material, it may be formed from a blanksuch as shown in Fig. 8, in which the cuts Ho and ribs its,corresponding to cuts II and ribs ll of Fig. 2,'i'orm an openwork. Suchan open-work when rolled laterally to cause its side margins as and IIto abut or overlap will present a binder tube of substantially Fig. 2style, or of any desired cross sectional shape.-

The flexibility and elasticity of the sheet material of the tube II andits cap 23 are such, that to remove the cap, it is simply necessary toseize the cap and pull it of! the tube by application of force. on sucha pull, there will be suiilcient relativeyield of the crimp 2i and ribstubs ii to allow passage of the cap over the end of the tube. It willbe understood, however, that the interlockment of crimp I with rib stubsII, in

Fig. 7 position of the parts, is sufficient to hold the parts in normalposition against any accidental displacement.

The binder has been described above as having sheet covers of metal orother material, re-

cessed like the page sheets. It may, however, with or without coversheets. be set as a unit, as by screws ll, (see Fig. 2), to the backstrip of an ordinary book-cover.

I claim:

1. A loose leaf binder, comprising a tube having a zone of selectivelyspaced areas opening to theinterior of the tube for receiving the leafmargins, ribs which demark said open areas and permanently bridge theinterior of the tube therebetween for lnterlockment with tabs on theleaf margins, and means placeable on the tube in a position in which itholds the leaves against disengagement of said tabs and ribs, andmovable from such a position to free the leaves for a shift thereofwhich will unlock the tabs from the ribs for removal of the leaves.

2. A loose leaf binder, comprising a tube having a sane of selectivelyspaced areas opening to the interior of the tube. for receiving the leafmargins, ribs which demark said open areas and permanently bridge theinterior of the tube therebetween for interlockment with tabs on theleaf margins, a cap slidable over one end of the tube to serve as anabutment whereby the leaves may be held against an otherwise permissiblelongitudinal shift on the tube which would unlock the tabs thereof fromthe ribs of the tube, and means for releasably holding the cap ineffective position.

3. A loose leaf binder, comprising a tube having a zone of selectivelyspaced areas opening to the interior of the tube for receiving the leaf'margins, ribs which demark said open areas and permanently bridge theinterior of the tube therebetween for interlockment with tabs on theleaf margins, a cap slidable over one end of the tube to serve as anabutment whereby the leaves may go be held against an otherwisepermissible longitudinal shift on the tube which would unlock the tabsthereof from the ribs of the tube, and a spring device for releasablyholding the cap in effective position.

4. A loose leaf binder, comprising a tube having a zone of selectivelyspaced areas opening to the interior of the tube for receiving the leafmargins, ribs which demark said open areas and permanently bridge theinterior of the tube therebetween for interiockment with tabs on theleaf margins, and a cap slidable over one end of the tube and havingaflange adapted to enter a slot in an end margin of each leaf, whereby tohold the corresponding leaf-ends to the tube, and to serve as anabutment for holding the leaves against an otherwise permissiblelongitudinal shift on the tube which would unlock the tabs thereof fromthe ribs of the tube, and means for releasably holding the cap ineffective position.

5. A loose leaf binder, comprising a tube having a zone of selectivelyspaced areas opening to the interior of the tube for receiving the leafmargins, ribs which demark said open areas and permanently bridge theinterior of the tube therebetween for interlockment with tabs on theleaf margins, except that the rib at one end of the tube has a gaptherein as wide as the elected tube capacity thickness of leaf assemblyand forming stubs, and means removably attachable to the stubs'of saidend rib, in a path of a leaf-unlocking, longitudinal shift of the leafassembly, for preventing such shift after the leaf tabs have beeninterlocked with the ribs which bridge the interior of the tube.

GEORGE G. MEVI.

